I mentioned dead nettle in a previous blog post, so I thought it fitting to elaborate on this beautiful plant in its own post. Dead nettle, Lamium purpureum, grows commonly in yards and along roadsides, especially here in Georgia, oftentimes in thick swathes like a groundcover. This plant's flowers provide food for butterflies and bees and, like other plants in the Lamiaceae or mint family, which includes culinary herbs such as basil, mint, rosemary, sage, oregano, marjoram, thyme, and lavender provide edible and aromatic culinary use.
The"dead-nettle" common name refers to the resemblance and distant relation of Lamium album, stinging nettles, however unlike these, dead nettle does not exhibit stinging hairs and thus are harmless, or "dead". An interesting bit of info on this family of plants is that most of the plants in the family exhibit a square stem, this is apparent in both mints as well as stinging nettles, basil, dead nettle and henbit. While other plants might exhibit square stems as well, it is a hallmark of the mint, Lamiaceae, family.
Personally, I've enjoyed dead nettle and henbit simply as raw greens or as a cooked green, boiled, steamed, with some salt and pepper, tastes a bit like spinach, and can be easily added to any stir fry or pasta dish, or eggs, but I've recently been reading about using it to make pesto, much as you would with basil and I'm dying to try that out this spring. I can't stress enough the fact that what people view as "weeds" are really nothing more than misunderstood and underappreciated plants. Dead nettle is a prime example of this. Be warned, however, that if you intend to harvest dead nettle from the roadside, that you might be gathering a plant with a wide array of pollution on it, from the roadway, as well as city maintenance herbicide spray. Best to gather this from your own yard or from a trusted, herbicide-free location. Here's a suggestion, you might spot a giant patch of it growing in the soccer field behind your local church, consult with the pastor, ask if the field is herbicide and pesticide-free, if so, ask if it's ok if you harvest some of the wild dead netttle that flourishes there and enjoy! Hey, if you manage to harvest enough, share some dead nettle pesto with the pastor in a show of good will toward your fellow man.
Once again, this just goes to show that there is bounty all around us if we know where to look. Get out there, get down in the midtown mud and start seeking out these wonderful plants that until now you may have been overlooking! Happy foraging! Peace!
Personally, I've enjoyed dead nettle and henbit simply as raw greens or as a cooked green, boiled, steamed, with some salt and pepper, tastes a bit like spinach, and can be easily added to any stir fry or pasta dish, or eggs, but I've recently been reading about using it to make pesto, much as you would with basil and I'm dying to try that out this spring. I can't stress enough the fact that what people view as "weeds" are really nothing more than misunderstood and underappreciated plants. Dead nettle is a prime example of this. Be warned, however, that if you intend to harvest dead nettle from the roadside, that you might be gathering a plant with a wide array of pollution on it, from the roadway, as well as city maintenance herbicide spray. Best to gather this from your own yard or from a trusted, herbicide-free location. Here's a suggestion, you might spot a giant patch of it growing in the soccer field behind your local church, consult with the pastor, ask if the field is herbicide and pesticide-free, if so, ask if it's ok if you harvest some of the wild dead netttle that flourishes there and enjoy! Hey, if you manage to harvest enough, share some dead nettle pesto with the pastor in a show of good will toward your fellow man.
Once again, this just goes to show that there is bounty all around us if we know where to look. Get out there, get down in the midtown mud and start seeking out these wonderful plants that until now you may have been overlooking! Happy foraging! Peace!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamiaceae
No comments:
Post a Comment